140 HAIG

connection of any sort with party politics ;
patriotism and comradeship were to inspire them
in peace as in the days of the war.

The provision of funds for the work was essen-
tial. The ex-Service men themselves, however
willing, could not make large contributions. The
profits accumulated by the Service canteens dur-
ing the war had been formed into a United Ser-
vice Fund while Haig was still serving. Lord
Byng had been the first chairman, now Haig
himself took the post, and was able to co-ordinate
the work of the Fund with that of the Legion.
But in 1921 he made still better provision by the
institution of " Poppy Day/' when the public
were asked, on the anniversary of the Armistice,
to purchase poppies, the proceeds of the sale to go
to a fund devoted to ex-Service men. In its first
year, it brought in over £100,000, and year by
year the amount increased. The manufacture of
artificial poppies for the annual sale has become
a fruitful source of employment for disabled
ex-Service men.

As the British Legion developed and grew in
England, Haig turned his attention to the Over-
seas Dominions, where the ex-Service men were
faced with similar difficulties. He visited South
Africa and Canada, and set the seal upon his
labours for the ex-Service men by founding the
British Empire Service League, which he des-
cribed as a " mighty federation to bind together
all who served in the forces of the Empire during
the Great War."